With the upcoming release of next gen consoles, this year’s Gamescom was bigger than it has been for years. The console war is in full effect, and Sony and Microsoft are doing their best to dazzle us with exclusives, indie support, and price-drops. If you're having trouble keeping up, we've summed up the news we think is the most important from the show so far.

The legacy of the PlayStation brand is an interesting one. Back in 1995, Sony was the scrappy underdog, and fought tooth and claw to ascend to the top of the video game heap, crippling Sega and putting Nintendo on shaky ground for the first time ever. The PlayStation 2 cemented their dominance over the market, with tons of instant classics released for the console. But by 2005, Sony had gotten soft, comfortable at the top. Their hubris was easy to see, and even the biggest PlayStation fans have to agree that they made some bone-headed moves at the beginning of the PS3’s life cycle. If one thing was made abundantly clear at Sony’s E3 press conference, it’s that they’ve come to reclaim their fans, as well as win over a whole new host of them.

Gameinformer has just revealed their May cover which exposes a prequel to the critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham games, titled Batman: Arkham Origins. Developed by WB Montreal, Arkham Origins promises a tale of a young, and learning Batman who will face off against some of his most infamous enemies, including Slade Wilson (aka Deathstroke), who will be making his debut appearance.

In addition to introducing Cross Buy, Sony dropped some other relevant Vita information. Version 1.80 of the system firmware will bring with it support for PSone Classics. Though the feature was planned and announced before the release of the system, it wasn't ready for the release or in the months following. On August 28 that will change as the company begins incrementally rolling out full support for the hefty catalog.

During today's Gamescom conference in Cologne, Germany, Sony released information about a brand new initiative that will start this fall with the release of its flagship titles. The "Cross Buy" program will allow players who purchase the PlayStation 3 version of a game to also take the same title on the go at no extra cost. PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale will lead the initiative, netting owners of the PlayStation 3 title a free digital copy for their portable Vita.

Screenshots taken from the beta version of the highly anticipated PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale have hit reddit, potentially revealing twelve more characters in the All Stars' roster. The list includes:

EA came out swinging at their press conference on Monday, and though the company showed a slew of upcoming games, it was clear that they were on message with the overarching theme of this year’s E3: we need to be connected at all times.

The Persona series continues to please and delight fans all over the world, and even though there is still no word on a new iteration on the popular RPG series, rabid Persona otaku can get their hands on not one, but two Persona games this year. First up is Persona 4 Arena, a 2D hand-drawn fighting game featuring popular characters battling it out with their own moves as well as their individual Personas.

Highlights include a new title from Quantic Dream and demo of The Last of Us.

Sony's press conference this year started off with a bang with a video that served as an overview of what would be shown. The video featured a stable of first party titles as well as some functionality announcements. Assassin's Creed III and Far Cry 3 also made their presence known.